Welcome Home
by paulatheprokaryote
Summary: Roxanne Weasley and Natalie Thomas-Finnegan settle into their new home. For caomoyl and Lost Muse's The New Home Challenge at HPFT


Roxanne sat the final oversized cardboard box down in a huff, ignoring the cloud of dust that whooshed from the floor, sprinkling the air with particles that glittered in the stray beams of light seeping through the antique window panes.

"Well, it's not much." Roxanne muttered as she dusted her hands onto her jeans, further disturbing the dust cloud.

"But it's home." A warm pair of arms snaked around her waist.

"Nat! You're home early!" Roxanne exclaimed, spinning around to kiss her.

"Dad let me off early!" Natalie smiled pulling back to examine Roxanne's handiwork.

"Which one?" Roxanne laughed.

"The Finnegan half of me, of course." She giggled.

"Of course." Roxanne let out a laugh. She should have known. She could hardly imagine Dean Thomas-Finnegan allowing Natalie to sneak off from the shop during the prime of Quidditch season.

"You know, I probably would have dusted before I carried all those boxes inside." Natalie teased, raking her finger across the kitchen counter. Her finger was coated in a layer of grey dust that caused her to cringe in disgust.

"Oh, I fully intended to but I think I packed my wand in one of the boxes!" She told Natalie as her cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment.

"Whatever! You just wanted me to do all of the hard work!" Natalie joked before pulling out her own wand and flicking it in the air. The dust vanished from the light beams and the scratched wood floors buffed to a smooth finish.

"Well go ahead and unpack while you're at it!" Roxanne gestured at the mountain of boxes that Natalie had painstakingly taped and labelled by room and content. It was a very Natalie thing to do.

"You're lucky I'm home or this would have taken you all night. All week if your wand is in one of the bottom boxes." Natalie snorted. With another wave of her wand the boxes began unpacking themselves, objects flying to and fro, nearly taking out the dated chandelier in the process. Roxanne reached over and pulled Natalie's wand hand lower, saving the chandelier just in the nick of time.

"You're lucky I'm home or the hideous chandelier you love so much would be in pieces on the floor." Roxanne baited her, knowing full and well that Natalie would defend the gaudy thing until her dying breath.

"Hey! It gives this place _character_!" She argued with a frown, examining the very ugly chandelier.

"Is character code word for dated monstrosity?" Roxanne laughed, causing Natalie to lunge at her, tickles in full swing. Unfortunately, the tickling distracted from the unpacking, causing several dishes to crash on the floor.

Both of the girls flinched at the piercing sound of the dishes shattering only to break down into hysterics at each other's faces.

"I hope you've been practicing your _reparo_ since the time you shattered that mirror in that antique shop. I'm pretty sure you've still got seven years of bad luck for that one." Roxanne told her with a very serious face.

"I must have since you're still in my life!" Natalie snorted.

"Oh, shut up. You know you love me." Roxanne whacked her with the roll of packing tape.

"That I most certainly do." Natalie smirked, leaning in for another kiss.

Natalie reluctantly went to the kitchen to repair the shattered dishes leaving Roxanne to stare at their shell of a new home. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms, reasonably priced and in a decent neighborhood. Their first big commitment together. Roxanne's mum nearly had a fit when she found out the girls were buying a home together. Why not just rent for a few years? How could they possibly know for certain that they were going to be together forever? What if they broke up in a year? Her dad had just smirked though. He'd known for years the two girls were bound to be together.

Roxanne, in a desperate attempt to cozy the place up a bit, flicked on the phonograph.

"This is my favorite song, crank it up!" Natalie's melodic voice called from the kitchen. With a grin Roxanne abided.

Now motivated to make the house a proper home, Roxanne pulled a few of the flannel blankets from a box marked " **SNUGGLES** " and piled them onto the worn leather couch.

It wasn't chilly enough to warrant a fire, but both girls were once Gryffindors and nothing in the world was more comforting to Gryffindors than a blazing fire. Still wandless, she pulled a few oak logs from the metal tin beside the fireplace and stacked them neatly inside. She frowned, trying to recall exactly how muggles started fires without wands.

" _Incendio_!" Natalie smirked from behind Roxanne, one hand on her hip and the other wrapped around her wand.

"Hey! I almost had it! I was trying it the muggle way!" Roxanne protested. She was secretly relieved all the same. The muggles always had funny ways of doing things.

"You know heat vision is just a myth right? They can't really start fires with their glares." Natalie continued to rib her about it. Roxanne tossed a pillow at Natalie's head in response.

"You're awfully violent today!" Natalie teased, catching the pillow with ease, her shirt raising just enough to expose her belly button.

"Am not!" Roxanne disagreed, eyeing her love with a reluctant smile.

"Are too!" Natalie smirked, squeezing the pillow across her chest in her folded arms.

Roxanne bit her lip to prevent herself from succumbing to Natalie's juvenile ways. Rule number one of dating her favorite maniac: Never challenge Natalie to an immaturity contest because she won every single time and it usually ended with a disaster of some sort.

"Fine. Maybe a little bit." Roxanne conceded for the sake of their new home. No disasters allowed until they were properly settled in.

"You finish the decoration boxes and I'll get dinner started, you vicious vixen." Natalie chuckled, tossing the pillow back into the box.

"Vicious vixen. I want that on my tombstone!" Roxanne called to Natalie's retreating figure.

She dug into the remaining boxes, arranging pillows, blankets, candlesticks, paintings, and portraits all around the room. Natalie would probably just rearrange them later anyway after a stressful day at work. The number of items rearranged directly correlated to the quality of her day.

Roxanne pulled out a partially melted candle with three wooden wicks and instantly knew it would be the touch to complete the place. She struck a match, sparking each of the three wicks. The glorious scents of rich vanilla and spicy cinnamon filled the air, transforming the house into their home.

She took a step back, admiring her new home. Sure the coffered ceilings had a few spots of water damage and the mantel was slightly crooked, but this place definitely felt like home.

"It's perfect, isn't it?" Natalie leaned in the doorframe with a radiant smile plastered on her face.

"It is," Roxanne said with a content sigh. "Is dinner ready?" She asked. No sooner had the words left her lips that she smelled the distinct aroma of burnt food mingled with the fragrant vanilla of the candle wafted through the room.

"Takeout will be here in twenty minutes." Natalie laughed. They agreed to snuggle up on the couch, waiting patiently for the delivery boy to ring their _new_ doorbell to their _new_ home. The remaining boxes could wait until tomorrow.

* * *

A:N/ Thank you to Julie (banshee) for providing me some fabulous characters to write about! She came up with the character Natalie from scratch and by golly I love her as an OC.


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